Daxtrien "Dax" Hartnet

          But he wasn’t as confident about becoming creative. The idea seemed so foreign on his scientific mind, which saw the world as a series of formulas and algorithms that his power could influence.

       “You’re probably right. But I don’t know if a creative Palkia would be a good thing.” The reason that Yuuto did not abuse his power was precisely because he wasn’t creative enough to. What little he did to bend the rules was already, in his mind, a risk. “I like music too, though. I don’t know if you can hear it, but the world sings if you listen. I can hear every string lining space being plucked. It’s like an orchestra.”

       “So you’re an artist!” Yuuto clarified, glad to drop the subject of practice. At least… somewhat glad. He had started the shift to hobbies, sure, but he had done so at great risk. He didn’t have the chance to pick up hobbies. He had even less chance to turn one world into ‘his’ world.

      Still, his mind did not linger on those things. He accepted not having them as his normal, so did think to compare his lack to her having. Instead, he listened with sincere interest.

       “My human brother composes as well! And my little sister is an artist.” And now that Lunette had come up in conversation, Yuuto seemed far more relaxed. “Lunette says that you can’t be bad at art. But I hope you’ll come to love your art on your own, Dax.”

        His ears were attentively listening for any music now, hopeful that he might hear one of her songs. “Creating is so difficult. I’m terrible at being creative. I admire those of you who can show the world what you see like that.”

“Creativity is in my blood,” Dax would respond, somewhat of a gut reaction, and somewhat subconsciously, too, now that she thought of it. “My dad’s the creator of all things, so making something entirely original is not difficult for me, I guess.”

   “I’d love that.” He agreed. So long as he avoided heavy pollen, his allergies were unlikely to be a problem. Yuuto fell into step next to her, using their matched paces to guide himself into a further calmed state. Her question almost caught him off guard: Was she asking him as Palkia, or as Yuuto? Probably Yuuto, right?

      … Did things ever happen to Yuuto, though? He was often so focused on being a proper successor to Palkia that he would forget to have a life.

   “Not very much, honestly. I’ve been wrapped up in practice.” Yuuto decided to start with honesty, “What about you? Do you get to have any hobbies?”

Dax hummed, understanding. “Practice consumed my life when I was first learning how to control my abilities. It gets better once you’re done, I promise,” she smiled and winked, internally screaming about how she shouldn’t have winked.

   “Uhhh, no. It’s fine. Laughing is good.” His shoulders fell with relief. When she put it like that, maybe it was all a rather ridiculous situation. Back home, even for Yuuto, it would be odd to have a stranger talk to him so formally. His Sacred Child status was not a common fact. He felt silly for having imagined her as a Kaguya-hime type of girl, whom he would have been lucky to see step from behind a curtain.

   “It’s mostly sweets. Oh, but please: Don’t feel pressured.” He held up his hands, basket still on his arm, “I’m not lying when I say that it’s an honor to meet you, uh, Lord… Lady? Daxtrien?”

      Oh heck. He barely knew how to address normal girls.

Oh, no. The laughing did not go as well as she wanted, even with her save. The laughing didn’t go over well at all. She mentally slapped her forehead - duh, Dax, People don’t like being laughed at. “Just... just Dax will do.” This was going from one type of stressful to the other faster than she initially imagined. 

—-

     “Y, Yes!” He gasped a respond, embarrassed to realize he had been staring. Now flustered, he first bobbed his head and then bowed from the waist. “Yuuto Yumeno, Sacred Child of Palkia. It’s a pleasure– uh, Honor! An honor, to meet you at last.”

Dax had noticed his staring, and for a split second, was concerned that he’d find her... unattractive? No... unworthy? Un-something. Then he broke into a stuttering mess, and she couldn’t help it - she laughed. “An honor?” Raising a hand, between gasps of breath, she managed to say, “Your Honor, I plead not guilty-” and only got that far before breaking into more boughts of laughter, doubling over and clutching her side. Truly, she was not laughing at him. She was laughing at the absurdity of all of this. She was a mess, and so was he. No wonder her father wanted them to meet. 

          The two kids initially fell into a safe silence. They weren’t sure what to make of Dax: Was she actually mistaking them for some other kids, or...?

          It was Morn who caught on first. She leaned against the table and put on a show of moaning irritably, “Awww! Gross, she caught up to us, Xi!”

       “H-Huh? But I don’t kno--” Morn kicked his foot under the table and Xion shut up. Good. At least he trusted her enough to follow her lead. As the conductor seemed ready to give up and leave, Morn’s expression slipped into a cheeky grin.

       “You owe us an apology, mister! You were really rude to your paying customers!” Perhaps she was pushing her luck... But the gamble payed off. The man, though equally annoyed and embarrassed, bowed to the trio and promised to bring them a complimentary tea. Then he hurried down the aisle, fleeing the scene that had begun making him look bad.

          Morn waited until she saw him leave to the next train car... Then she laughed. “Nice one, lady! You wanna stick around and get that free tea he promised?”

       “I think we just ruined someone’s hard work day...” Xion sighed.

As the man stepped away to get the tea, Dax too broke into a grin. Despite her age, it never got old playing practical jokes on others. “I think I’ll have to stick around, otherwise they’ll start to catch on to our little lie,” she said, gently patting Morn’s shoulder to ask for room on the bench. She slid in once room was made, resting her arms on the table. 

“I suppose I should introduce myself. My name’s Daxtrien Hartnet, but most people just call me Dax.” The click of a Pokeball opening on its own announced the arrival of a certain Sylveon, who hopped up onto the bench next to Xion. Mila fixed Dax with a serious and disapproving stare. “And this is my partner, Mila,” Dax added with a sheepish smile.

“You are aware that you’re probably breaking the law, right?” Mila stated in Pokespeak, which probably sounded like unintelligible Pokemon noises to anyone who didn’t know how to speak to Pokemon or wasn’t at least partly Pokemon themselves.